Latex wall paints?

[Brewerpaul]

We were selecting wall paint yesterday and I was struck by the myriad of available colors and choices of surface finish from flat to gloss. I was wondering if anyone here has used these paints on models? You can buy small sample jars of any color custom mixed, for less than a lot of the official modeling paints. I think they can even scan and match your own color samples. My upcoming Pride of Baltimore II requires a fair number of different colors and was thinking this might be a good option,especially for the green part of the hull.

[reklein]

Wall paint is far too heavy bodied for model work. The pigment is too heavy and will cover any detail work. Acrylic craft paint will work  but it too is heavy and the pigment isn't fine enough either. Vallejo acrylics are probably the best you can get these days.

[bluenose2]

Hello Les here. I agree with reklein on this issue. I was suckered into trying latex paint. Hey a litre or quart is dirt cheap compared to model paints. Also I tried a rattle can on my 1/72 Snowberry. Covered all the detail and had to use laquer thinner to remove it from the photo etch. I don't have experience with Vallejo but I use Tamiya and this is a very good product.

[kurtvd19]

Acrylic model paints have very finely ground pigments - some have pigment grinds as fine as 1 micron. 

Typical wall paint has pigment that is about 37 microns.  That's how they can advertise - Guaranteed One Coat Coverage. 

No amount of thinning can reduce the pigment size.

Use model paints on models. 

 

[stuglo]

On 6/29/2020 at 5:42 PM, reklein said:

Wall paint is far too heavy bodied for model work. The pigment is too heavy and will cover any detail work. Acrylic craft paint will work  but it too is heavy and the pigment isn't fine enough either. Vallejo acrylics are probably the best you can get these days.

I agree, but there are places that model paints are not always available. I use acrylic craft diluted with Windolene or medical alcohol (as opposed to medicinal alcohol)as a substitute. An orbital sander works as a great mixer/agitator. 

[druxey]

Wall paint is great - if you are painting a wall!

[Roger Pellett]

Rather than using wall paint, custom colors can be mixed from tubes of acrylic artist’s colors.  I have had good luck mixing these pigments with artist’s matt medium.  For use in my airbrush they are thinned with water.  I do not pretend to understand the intricacies of using a color wheel.  Instead, I mix them by eye.  For old colors like “drab” and “straw” formulae can be found on the Internet.

 

Roger